National Museum of the American Latino
From: Refugio
I wrote this in 2000 - for the challenge facing Latino representation for a national museum.
First time presented at Tuskegee University to prepare for the time Latinos are recognized for unique history, culture and mestizaje.
DRAFT
I will preface my speech by a few excerpts from Earl Shorris, author of "Latinos: A Biography of the People" (New York: W.W. Norton Co., 1992):
First, according to Shorris: Any history of Latinos stumbles at the start, for there is no single line to trace back to its ultimate origin.
This statement reminds us that our histories and origins have many roots and origins. When does our history begin? Who are our ancestors? For Latinos, these are complex issues.
Second, according to Shorris: Latino history has become a confused and painful algebra of race, culture, and conquest, it has less to do with evidence than with politics, for whoever owns the beginning has dignity, whoever owns the beginning owns the world.
Keep in mind that whatever I say or whatever anyone says about Latino heritage, it is because of politics, i.e. a desire to persuade and convince of a particular viewpoint or policy.
Third: Shorris observes that: According to the rules of conquest, the blood of the conquered dominates, but the rules are not profound, they are written on the skin. That is to say that every version of history has its adherents. Every history depends on who tells the story. People who look white have their version of history.
People who are Black, or very dark, also have their own version of history. What Shorris points out is that persons of mixed heritage or brown features, have more difficult choices. For them, those small conceits of identity (Black, White, or Indian), do not apply in their history.
As a person of mixed ancestry -- a mestizo -- I humbly stumble forward with my version of Hispanic/Latino history.
In the Beginning
The origins of U.S. Hispanic heritage can be traced to the Spaniards who explored the world for treasures of gold and land to expand their empire. As far as we can prove, Cristobol Colon or Columbus and his troops landed first among Europeans on an island of the Bahamas archipelago, which belongs geographically to North America, on October 12, 1492.
Shortly afterwards he landed on Puerto Rico, now part of the United States. Although a native of Genoa, Italy, Columbus was a subject of Spain's Queen Isabella of Castile and King Ferdinand of Aragon and claimed the land for Spain. The United States has been generous in honoring Columbus.
October 12 is called Columbus Day. The Spanish presence on this continent predates the Declaration of Independence of 1776 by nearly 300 years (284 years to be exact).
After Columbus, Juan Ponce de Leon was the first European to land in the U.S., that was on April 2, 1513. He also planted a flag for Spain and called the place La Florida.
Fifteen years later, in 1528, Panfilo de Narvaez landed in Tampa Bay. And in 1539, Hernando de Soto built a winter camp in present-day Tallahasee.
The Spaniards were also the first Europeans in 23 other states, including:
Virginia, North and South Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Arkansas, Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska, Colorado, New Mexico, Utah, Arizona, Nevada, California, Oregon, Washington, Alaska (after the Russians) and Hawaii.
Thus, Hispanic heritage is many years long and significant within the United States.
Records, Documents and Purpose
The Spaniards wrote accounts and published maps, thus opening the way for many others.
Their language, Castilian Spanish, is predominant in the Americas. Today, Spanish is the second most spoken language in the United States. It is also the second most spoken language in the world, after Mandarin Chinese. English is in third place.
Some might think that La Florida defined the line between English and Spanish settlement in the United States.
But the Chesapeake Bay was visited first by Spaniards in 1525. It was visited many times by the Spaniards during the 16th and 17th centuries.
The Chesapeake Bay was first called: Bahia de la Madre de Dios (Bay of the Mother of God). It was clearly drawn in the World Map of Juan Vespucci, nephew of renowned map-maker Americo Vespucci, in 1526.
America derives its name from Americo or Amerigo Vespucci, the name used by other map-makers of the early 1500s.
Settlements
The first European attempt to establish a permanent colony was made in June 1526 by Lucas Vazquez de Ayllon in San Miguel de Guadalupe at the mouth of the Pee Dee River in South Carolina. That was six decades before the British on Roanoke Island, North Carolina, in July 1584. Eight decades before the British in Jamestown, Virginia, in 1607. And almost a century before the Mayflower landed in Plymouth Rock.
The first European community to succeed in the United States was founded in St. Augustine, Florida, in September 1565, by Spanish Admiral Pedro Menendez de Aviles.
Today, St. Augustine is the oldest European city in the United States. Also, to guide the conduct of his soldiers, Admiral Menendez issued the Ordinances of Governance of St. Augustine, thereby establishing the first European code of laws enacted in the United States.
St. Augustine is also famous for having the first U.S. church (San Francisco), the first marriage recorded in the National Archives, and the first European baby born in the United States, namely, Martin de Arguelles, born in 1566. That was 21 years before Virginia Dare was born in Roanoke, VA.
Santa Fe, New Mexico, is the second oldest city to succeed in the United States, founded in 1610 by Governor Pedro de Peralta for the King of Spain. It is also the oldest state capital in the nation and the first major cross-roads for travelers and traders who pioneered the western half of the United States.
Leyendas aka Legacies
The first best-selling book of American history was written by Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca who traveled the breadth of the United States from Florida to Arizona between 1528 and 1536.
His book was published in 1542 in Zamora, Spain, as La Relacion (The Account).
Cabeza de Vaca was a survivor of an expedition of Panfilo de Narvaez. He and three others journeyed westward from Galveston, Texas to Mexico City, without a map or direction. For eight years they lived among American Indians with accounts of being captured, escaping, being captured and learning shamanism along the way. [The others included: Andres Dorantes, Alonso del Castillo and Dorante's Moorish slave Esteban or Estebanico].
A fascinating part of Cabeza de Vaca's account told of a city filled with turquoise and emeralds. The account included mention of Cibola and the Seven Cities of Emeralds and Torquoise. The book fired the imagination of other explorers, perhaps searching for riches to match the empire of the Aztecs that were already being plundered in Mexico.
The Black Legend
With so many firsts, we wonder why we know so little about Hispanics in America. Why have Hispanics been overlooked in U.S. teachings and curricula. In a recent book, Tree of Hate by Philip Wayne Powell (Ross House, 1985), we have research showing a deep scholarly schism between Anglo/English writers and Spanish historians referred to as The Black Legend (la leyenda negra). According to the legend, after the 16th century there developed anti-Spanish propaganda and prejudices that became entrenched in U.S. teachings and history. The writings and feelings arose out of Spain's long period of global dominance in military might, religious and economic affairs; all embellished by the much criticized wealth and prestige of Spain's overseas possessions. There carried forward into the twentieth century a Western tradition of treating anything Spanish in American history with half truths and verbal prejudices. Much of The Black Legend can be traced to the Protestant Revolt in Europe (the Reformation) and can be linked to anti-Catholic religious emotions. Some can be linked to the history of English "Pilgrims" going to America via fanatically hispanophobic Holland who fought the former Spanish control of Holland.
According to professor Philip Wayne Powell:
All this inheritance and much, much more, came to us in the formative generations of our own nationhood, where it lives on in our literature, our historians, our schoolbooks, and the social end-products of these opinion forming materials.
This Black Legend that we inherit thus contains an inordinate amount of passionate falsehood, exaggeration, half-truths; past hatreds set in History's concrete. (p.x).
Perhaps because most Anglo people prefer to believe that U.S. life began with the arrival of the English-speaking Pilgrims, living under British law, values and systems of governance, the exclusion of Hispanics has been easy to accept.
Representation
The exclusion of Hispanic heritage in our teachings is not only a fact of U.S. education. A very substantial extension of the anti-Spanish Black Legend comes into the U.S. by way of Mexico and Latin America.
For example, Mexico's independence from Spain in 1821 and Mexico's 1910 Revolution, stretching into the late 1920's and through the Thirties, birthed Mexico's indigenismo movement and challenged the Hispanic role in Mexico. Indigenismo, an emphasis of Indian culture and Indian heritage, permeated the political and educational systems and such other cultural manifestations as Indian painting, music, and literature. Mexican teachings became increasingly pro-Indian and correspondingly anti-Spanish and anti-white. Until the 1980's, Mexican scholars loudly proclaimed political and agrarian reforms (between the have and have-nots) with an emphasis of recognizing Indian traditions, like the ejido systems of communal farming.
Indian Heritage in Latino Culture and Society
One of interesting things about the Mexican Revolution and the expulsion of Spaniards has been the gradual transformation of Latino identity in place of Hispanic identity.
Very simply put, being of Spanish descent is not so cool anymore. And, if Mexican scholars proclaim that they are of Indian blood, then the popular mass can make the same claim without denigration of their social class or economic status. Diego Rivera, for example, Mexico’s great muralists, often referred to himself as Indian, African, Spanish, Jewish, a mestizo of Mexico. Many Mexican Presidents have said the same thing.
With the growing population of Mexicans in the United States, it has become more popular and acceptable to claim indigenous roots. Hispanics of Mexican descent, who have accepted their Indian heritage, have also tended to call themselves Chicano and/or Latino within the United States. And in their scholarship and teachings, more attention has been focused on Indian culture, monuments and traditions. Concomitantly, there have been many writers who have damned the Spanish legacy and its early role in church and state, Indian servitude, land ownership and entitlements, and systems of patrimony.
Contemporary Identity
Especially since World War II, we find that relatively few Mexican-Americans call themselves Hispanics. Similar changes in identity have occurred with Latinos in the U.S. with origins from Ecuador, Guatemala, Peru, Puerto Rico, Cuba, Bolivia, etc. Since the word Latino does not refer to Spain, it is perfectly okay for persons of Brazil to call themselves Latino. All in all, people who prefer to identify more with their Indian heritage, tend to identify less with their Spanish or Hispanic heritage.
Consequently, we have a growing interest in understanding the indigenous "Indian" component of Latinos. And rightly so, because our Indian heritage is very rich with history, traditions and culture.
Many of our U.S. Latino communities and connections to each other are built upon Indian foundations.
One of the unfortunate aspects of the Indian heritage of Latinos is the absence of clear family lines to blood and families of indigenous background. Relatively few Latinos are categorized and registered as American Indians. Under the circumstances, Latinos draw from stories or myths that link them to Indian heritage.
For example, there is the Aztec myth of Aztlan, the birthplace of the Aztec peoples. According to Aztec legends, they migrated to Mexico city from the north. Some scholars interpret the myth to say that Aztlan is in New Mexico, maybe Utah, somewhere in the historical land of Cibola. For Mexican-Americans or Chicanos who do not have tribal lineage and recognition, saying they are Aztec descendents of Aztlan is satisfying and possibly factual.
Nonetheless it is clear that Latinos, as a people, are not only Hispanic, they are also indigenous in culture and custom. There are many "proofs" for this claim. Much of our food and diet is Indian, especially from Mexico and Peru. In fact, we have many Indian words in our vocabulary: avocado, tomato, potato, chocolate, chilli, tamal, all Nahuatl words. Even macho, mesquite (wood), mesquito, coyote (coyotl) are Nahuatl words. Some of our values and beliefs in family, respect, courtesy, and work ethic, are Indian values. Much of our concern for the poor, sharing and adopting people into extended family are Indian by nature and culture. Lots of our make-up is indigenous.
The First Documented Africans in America
As mentioned earlier, I was also going to speak of our African roots and heritage. I am not going back millions of years to claim that all humans originated in Africa. It is easy to show from our Spanish literature, that Latino roots are also African roots of blood and culture. Even on the ship of Columbus, there were Spanish speaking Africans. One such member was Pedro Alonzo Nino, a pilot on board of one of Columbus' ships when they found themselves among Indians of the Americas. I doubt there was a ship of colonizers without Spanish-speaking Africans, slaves, and persons of Moroccan descent.
One of the survivors with Cabeza de Vaca was a black Moorish slave by the name of Esteban or Estebanico.
Estebanico is the first known African to explore the United States. Actually, he was the first Muslim, Afro-Latino. Not too much is known about him other than his birth in Azamore, Morocco, around 1500, and his survival story. According to de Vaca's book, The Account, Estebanico played a crucial role as a medicine man and healer among the Indians. He recited improvised prayers and made signs over ill and dying Indians. For his service the four were rewarded with food, water, and directions. Estebanico was referred to as "the great go-between" and probably mastered much of the Indian folklore and languages.
Unfortunately, after surviving 8 years with De Vaca, he returned to the fabled land of Cebola, the seven cities of wealth, and was last seen by Indian messengers who said he had been shot by Indians, presumably the Zuni's.
According to a questionable story, the Zuni's have a folk legend about a brave Black Mexican - a large man, with "chilli [thick] lips" who was "killed by our ancestors."
Pioneers like Estebanico and Cabeza de Vaca paved the way for hundreds of Hispanic followers. They charted cities, missions, fortresses and roads and introduced the names of many American cities. They established large ranches and the cowboy culture of America. They introduced new laws and customs and were the first to ban the practice of slavery within the Americas.
A Brief Look at Slavery
Clearly the records show that our Hispanic forefathers brought slaves from Africa, as in the case of Estebanico. Slaves were introduced in great numbers into the Caribbean region to supplant the millions of Indians who died by disease and punishment.
As early as 1565, Black slaves were brought to Florida to labor for Spaniards. They worked in the royal Spanish hospital and barracks, and served the military by cutting firewood, maintaining weapons, tending mounts, and providing their music.
Some worked in construction projects, in the stone quarries, and at lime kilns. They were also the artisans, field hands, lumberjacks and cowboys.
As the New World lands were considered a kingdom of the Crown of Castile,
Spanish laws governed slavery in the Americas. Unlike slaves belonging to the English, Spanish slaves were never merely chattel property.
Spanish laws tended to treat slavery as an act of fate and an aberration in nature, not a preordained or perpetual condition. Slaves had the right to personal security and had legal and religious recourse against a cruel master, including being released from the control of the abuser. They even had the right of self-purchase and the ability to pursue it. That is because owners were responsible for teaching their slaves the rudiments of the faith so that they could be admitted to the Catholic Church. Before God, slaves enjoyed the sacraments of the Church, including marriage. Spanish owners often became part of a slave’s extended family by serving as godparents at slave marriages and baptisms. This practice was probably more acceptable to Spaniards than to the English for reasons other than religion.
Roots
The main reason for the possibility of extended family ties may be the long history of Spain with the Moorish kingdoms of northern Africa, ranging from Morocco to Damascus, Syria. From 719 to 1212 the Muslims of Africa reigned supreme in the Iberian peninsula.
They were powerful until the Christians fought back under the leadership of El Cid. Still, African Moors were not completely vanquished from Spain until 1492. Thus, for nearly 800 years Africans were a part of Spain; plenty of time for cultural transfusion, language melding, inter-marriage and inter-breeding.
The interesting part of the Hispanic history of slavery is the way it was eventually eliminated in the Caribbean and Latin America, long before the end of slavery within the United States. Much of the effort to eliminate slavery can be attributed to Dominican missionaries of the Caribbean and Bishop Bartolome de las Casa who was assigned to Chiapas, Mexico in 1544. They exerted great efforts to abolish the subjugation of Indians by the Spanish colonists of the time.
Suffice it to say that by 1850, all of the former Spanish colonies that had won their independence had abolished slavery.
(iBooks since 2000 by Andres Resendez and by Ilan Stavans challenge my stance).
The Spanish move against slavery also pressed into the United States by 1840. When Mexico won its independence from Spain in 1821, Mexico continued the policy of ending slavery. Until the 1840’s, Mexican territory included one-third of the current land of the U.S. – the entire Southwest.
The Wars and Conquest
In 1846, the U.S. proclaimed war against Mexico. One reason was the battle of the Alamo. Another was the U.S. proclamation of Manifest Destiny. And imbedded in the U.S. claim for more land, was the U.S. protection of the Texas commerce, based on the use of slavery.
As you may know, the U.S. won the war against Mexico and took control over the states of Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, California, Colorado and parts of Oregon, Nevada, Wyoming, and Oklahoma. The current border with Mexico was determined by the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo of 1848.
Moreover, we know that the Civil War soon followed. And from that episode, many escaped slaves from U.S. southern plantations found their way to Latin America.
Such run-away slaves became known in the Americas as Maroons. For a time in our history, maroon colonies were considered a threat in the United States to the slave system. Yet they are an important part of our Latino heritage. So important that we need more research and study of that heritage.
What we can say at this time is that our Latino heritage is filled with African blood, spirit, soul, language and traditions. Some of our heritage is derived from the Muslim Moors like Esteban. Other heritage is from African slaves of western Africa. As early as 1565, Black slaves were brought to Florida to labor for Spaniards.
A good example are the Africans of Yoruba culture. They brought artful skills and produced rich oral literature. They introduced us to beliefs that form the Afro-Christian religion known as Santeria. Another source of Afro-Latino culture derived from Bantus, i.e., people who are associated with the Mayombe religion. Moreover, almost all the different forms of Latin music derive from African influence. If Latino history did not begin in Africa, we ask, whose hands are making music on the drum? In fact, the early marriage of Afro-Caribbean percussion and jazz created a distinct set of sounds of salsa, tango, cumbia, merengue, etc. Rhythms such as rhumba, bomba, son, and plena are heard all around.
Race Mixture: Mestizaje
Today’s Hispanic population encompasses a broad multicultural presence that is multi-ethnic, multi-racial and omnipresent within the United States. Latinos add a new dimension to national ethnic diversity. From my perspective and personal point of view, the richest attribute of U.S. Hispanics and Latinos, is this rich ancestral past and heritage. When we know ourselves as part of a history of many cultures, races and peoples, it should be impossible to think of ourselves as separate and divided from other people of the world.
I know that many more U.S. Latinos see themselves as more than one racial group. In the Census of 2000, more almost 12 percent of the Hispanic population classified themselves as mixed blood, more than one race.
Nonetheless, some Latinos still have difficulty referring to themselves as mestizo. The word itself sounds too much like mixed mongrels. And for many of our generation, they can still recall the racial discrimination of anti-miscegenation laws within the United States. For a long time in our history, being a half-breed connoted criminal, illicit, biological ancestry. Although the Spaniards were initially single men and the first to inter-breed on arrival in the Americans, their children faced a secondary status to pure blooded Spaniards.
Historian Ramon Gutierrez sheds light on the ugly nature of mestizos: To curtail the high levels of sexual violence against indigenous women, the Catholic clergy urged soldiers to take Indian brides in sacramental marriage. Some did and their children officially became known as mestizos. Others established adulterous liaisons with Indian women, through concubinage and cohabitation, especially with domestic servants and slaves. Casual encounters, wanton promiscuity, and rapes, when taken together with stable unions, greatly expanded the numbers of mestizos over the cause of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. [Draft manuscript, 2000, University of California, San Diego, Department of Ethnic Studies].
Research has also shown that the once colonial Spaniards in power had an elaborate classification system known as Regimen de Castas, the Society of Castes. It ranked hierarchically all children of inter-racial unions by putative degrees of blood mixture. The Society of Castas functioned as a pigmentocracy in which social status was ascribed on the basis of skin color and phenotype, with Spaniards of European origin at the top of the social order, castas of half-breeds in-between, and dark-skinned Indians and Africans at the bottom.
Whiter people, enjoyed privileges from this system. Darker people were looked down upon as inferior. The shades of one's color still affect the status of Latinos in many parts of the U.S. and Latin America. Even in Cuba it is reported that a form of structural racism exists whereby young blacks say they are underrepresented on the staffs of the big new five-star hotels and the ancillary service businesses springing up around Havana, the Varadero beach resort and other major cities. To quote from a recent article:
In today's Cuba, with the economy substantially "dollarized," those with access to tourists -- and the dollars they spend -- form a kind of new elite, and this elite of waitresses, doormen, tour guides and cab drivers appears much whiter than Cuba as a whole. [Eugene Robinson, "Cuba Begins to Answer is Race Question," The Washington Post, Sunday Nov. 12, 2000, p.A01.
But with the historical expulsion of Spaniards from Latin America, the revolution and political reforms for independence and the rise in nationalistic fervor for Indian heritage, the system of Societal Castes is disappearing -- slowly but surely it will disappear.
Jose Vasconcelos, the Mexican philosopher, once wrote that mestizos would constitute another dimension of society. To quote:
The Mexican, is "…made of the treasury of all the previous races, the final race, the cosmic race." (Raza Cosmica, 1925).
Although his words are abstract and racially oriented, his vision of the mestizo is nonetheless a reflection of the emerging concept of Latinos. Latinos are related to all peoples and hence have much to share and much to gain from others.
Summary
Thus far, I have attempted to celebrate our Hispanic Heritage by featuring some of the unique history and blood-lines of Latinos.
At the same time, I have been conscious of three caveats of Shorris:
First:: I have probably stumbled with my history. I have no clear beginning or single line of event, leading up to the contemporary heritage of Latinos.
Second: I have intimated some of the political issues of Latino history and identity. All Latinos have a unique sense of identity, most of it is due to the politics of the time.
Third: My acknowledgment of mixed blood has been my way of arguing for the recognition that mestizo is the future. We are all part of one race, the human race. All that matters is that we all are related to each other.
I now entertain your questions. Thank you.
On Feb 16, 2021, at 5:15 PM, Fernando Zazueta <frzrotarypres@gmail.com> wrote:
Aviso sobre el nombramiento de mi camarada Eduardo Diaz desde la escuela de derecho University of California, Davis Law School y últimamente director del Smithsonian Institution Latino Center.
Date: Thu, 6 Nov 2003 22:39:02 -0800 (PST) From: Refugio I Rochin <rochin@gmail.com> Subject: Founding Director notes on Smithsonian Center, date Jan. 2000
SMITHSONIAN CENTER FOR LATINO INITIATIVES
A. Background
In 1997, the Smithsonian Board of Regents created the "Smithsonian Center for Latino Initiatives" to advance knowledge and understanding of Latino contributions to science, art, history, culture, and society.
Dr. Refugio I. Rochin, the founding Director of the Center, formally opened the Center on August 10, 1998.
The initial Center included Dr. Miguel Bretos, former Counselor to Secretary Heyman and Provost O'Connor for community affairs and special projects, and staff members Judith Scott and Claudina Barrera. The current composition of the Center includes 11 members.
In the spring meeting of 1999, the Board of Regents authorized the established of "The Smithsonian National Board for Latino Initiatives." The Board was designed to include up to twenty-five national leaders from the areas of art, business, education, media, and non-profit organizations for the purpose of providing the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution and the Director of the Smithsonian Center for Latino Initiatives with:
(1) Advice, support and expertise on Latino history, culture, art, and science.
(2) Help in developing the financial base for Latino initiatives at the Smithsonian Institution.
(3) Advocacy for the Center's purposes and programs to wider audiences of Latino communities.
The Regents approved the first members of the National Board in the Fall 1999.
B. Mission and Aims
The Center's mission and aims is critical concerns of two reports that preceded the establishment of the Center:
.
The first report of 1994 was entitled: "Willful Neglect: The Smithsonian Institution and U.S. Latinos." This report concluded, "[the] Institution almost entirely excludes and ignores the Latino population in the United States. This lack of inclusion is glaringly obvious in the lack of a museum facility focusing on Latino or Latin American art, culture or history; the near-absence of permanent Latino exhibitions or programming; the very small number of Latino staff, and the minimal number of curatorial or managerial positions; and the almost total lack of Latino representation in the governance structure.
The second report of 1997 was entitled: "Towards a Shared Vision: U.S. Latinos and the Smithsonian Institution". This report highlighted the Smithsonian's mission by asserting that:
"As the largest museum complex in the world and the premier cultural institution in the United States, the Smithsonian plays a fundamental role in defining the parameters of our cultural identity. How the Smithsonian views U. S. Latinos is important to all Americans, because the Smithsonian helps determine how all Americans see themselves - and how the rest of the world views the United States…. By fully and accurately reflecting these [Latino] contributions and mirroring the American mosaic, the Smithsonian can communicate to every visitor the nation's genuinely multicultural history and essence and its seminal accomplishment: creating a national unity of democratic values, while at the same time recognizing and celebrating its cultural diversity. This approach is entirely consistent with the motto of the United States, e pluribus unum -"one from many."
C. Current Mission and Goals
The mission of the Center is to advance and disseminate knowledge and understanding of the contributions of Latinas and Latinos to U.S. history, art, culture, science, and society.
The Center accomplishes its mission by generating knowledge through research and scholarship, interpreting, and communicating knowledge through exhibitions, public programs, online and electronic capabilities, and by building dialog and connections among Latino communities, the Smithsonian Institution, and other educational and research organizations, foundations, corporations, and government agencies.
The goals of the Center are:
* To increase research and understanding of U.S. Latinos through increased support for scholarships and exchanges with Latino scholars and through the development of endowments and grants that fund Latino studies at the Smithsonian.
* To enhance collections and increase the holdings of artifacts, paintings, material collections of historic significance and archival documents of importance at the Smithsonian museums, galleries and archives.
* To develop exhibitions on themes of great interest to the Latino community, utilizing the Smithsonian's collections and collaborations with Smithsonian affiliations and organizations associated with the Center.
* To promote education, outreach and training opportunities for Latinos and for persons developing Latino Studies as a vocation by developing internships, research opportunities for students and academics, and by developing a sustained program of symposia and workshops at the Smithsonian Institution and with organizations associated with the Center.
* To recognize and award persons of outstanding contributions to America in the areas of Latino history, humanities, art, social and basic science, cultural studies and communities. Such recognition may include invitations to perform, present works of art, and public addresses at the Smithsonian.
* To expand communications and opportunities for Latinos to join Smithsonian activities and business ventures currently available through Smithsonian publications, catalog sales and museum shops, Smithsonian Associates and projects of Smithsonian museums, galleries, research centers and the National Zoological Park.
D. Center Funds and Operations for FY 2000
The following provides funding for the Center:
Federal Appropriations
2 FTE (salaries and benefits) $123,800
Trust Appropriations (Unrestricted Trust allotment)
5 FTE $454,000
Salaries & Benefits $222,700
Travel $ 21,000
Rental $ 5,000
Printing $ 10,000
Contract Services $ 10,000
Supplies $ 18,000
Equipment $ 3,000
Discretionary Funds
Carryover balance $ 30,000
Fundraising Fund
Development Officer $ 50,000
Grants
Rockefellow Foundation $250,000
Gifts
Texaco $150,000
Palamo Picasso $ 30,000
HispanicsInPhilanthropy $ 800
Dominican Professionals $ 2,500
Latino Initiatives Fund
Carryover for FY99 $333,799
Allocation for FY00 $205,000
E. CENTER INITIATIVES
Initiatives in Latino Music
For the next five years (2000-2005), under the Direction of Dr. Miguel Bretos, the Center will lead a national program on Latino Music. The objective of this program is to provide high visibility and national exposure to Latino music, performers and artistic complements like musical instruments and particular styles within the Smithsonian and with affiliations through scholarly research, recognitions and awards, performances, exhibitions, educational programs, Smithsonian museum shops and educational programs and collections.
The project will highlight the diversity of sounds inherent in Latin Music from the rhythmic styles of the salsa, mambo, bomba y plena, corridos, merengue, conjunto, bolero, to name but a few. The Latino Music project will include an advisory board of national performers, scholars and industry members, who will work with the Dr. Miguel Bretos to promote initiatives in Latino Music, to identify sources of funds and to advise on the priorities and awards activities of the Center.
Initiatives in Latino Arts & Culture
The aim of the Center's initiatives in Latino Arts and Culture is to promote research, publications, exhibitions, and opportunities at the Smithsonian for Latinos with internships, fellowships, and training. Initiatives in Arts and Culture are currently headed by Refugio Rochin with the assistance of Olga Herrera.
There are three points of emphasis in Latino Arts and Culture:
* The promotion of the Smithsonian Institution in the Center's brochures, website, and outreach activities as a national resource in Latino Arts and Culture research.
* The development of endowments to fund Smithsonian research units and to develop outreach programs that enrich Latino communities nationwide.
* The expansion of outreach programs, exhibitions and collaborations between the Smithsonian and organizations that promote Latino culture, arts and heritage.
The Center co-hosted symposiums in San Diego (Chicano Art exhibit) and Las Cruces New Mexico (Retablo and exvoto exhibit at NMSU Art Gallery). The Center co-hosted with the National Hispanic Foundation for the Arts, the east coast premier showing of Luminarias, starring Evelina Hernandez.
Olga Herrera developed the Latino Artists database to identify and catalogue the Smithsonian works of art and materials that come from Latino or Hispanic artists.
Initiatives in Latino Science
One of the primary objectives of the Center is the facilitation of the Smithsonian's science and research units with students and Latino scientists who are working with universities, museums, and other research institutions.
The Smithsonian offers a wealth of opportunities with science projects in astrophysics, environment, human and nature bio-diversity, archeology, marine biology, forensic science, paleobiology, etc.
The aim of the Center's initiatives in Latino Science is to promote educational opportunities, internships, and training experiences in the basic science units of the Smithsonian.
Latino Initiatives Fund
There are numerous projects underway with support from the Latino Initiatives Fund to create Science opportunities. A partial list includes the following:
(1) Work on the exhibition: Hurakan: the world's deadliest force. This traveling exhibit is being co-produced with SITES and is being initiated with a symposium on the history and science of hurricanes, including international experts of the field.
(2) Educational outreach with the exhibit entitled: "A Closer Look at Santos." This exhibit is being co-produced with the Smithsonian Materials and Research Center to show the science of materials conservation and the scientific dimensions and artistry of Santeros.
(3) Educational outreach with the exhibit entitled: "Frogs of the Rain Forest." This exhibit by STRI is being supported with funds for Spanish-English materials to accompany the exhibit. The Center will promote venues with affiliations.
(4) The Center also sponsors outreach and educational projects with the following entities:
* NMNH: support for the preparation of a project that promotes the research in entomology and paleobiology.
* Biodiversity research and leadership training for Latino scientists, under the leadership of Francisco Dallmeier.
* NZP: Educational outreach with Columbia Heights K-12 schools that will provide workshops and after school projects related to zoological research.
* NZP: Educational outreach and training with the Miami Museum of Science that
teaches school teachers the science of biodiversity and environmental protection.
* SAO: Educational outreach to communities of Native Americans and Latinos by staff of the Astrophysics Observatory.
Project Collaborations with: Francisco Dallmeier, Alfonso Alonso, Jesus Maldonado, Steve Monfort, Conrad Labandeira, Jia-Sun Tsang and other project PIs.
Initiatives in Center Research, Outreach, and Educational Resources (ROER)
The Center supports excellence in research in the arts, humanities and social sciences at the Smithsonian with fellowships and programs with the Inter-University Program for Latino Research, a non-profit, a consortium of university center for Latino Studies. The Center offers internship opportunities for undergraduate and graduate students and research opportunities for post doctoral specialists of Latino
Studies. Initiatives in Research, Fellowships and Training are managed by Magdalena Mieri, a professional in Museum Studies and educational outreach.
The center provides research opportunities for Latina/o scholars in the humanities by sponsoring Humanities Fellowships in Latino Cultural Research. The program is supported by the Rockefeller Foundation and organized by the center with the collaboration of several Smithsonian museums and research centers. During 1999 two fellows were in residence at the National Museum of Americna Art and one at the National Museum of American History.
The Center's fellows in residence, funded by the Rockefeller Foundation and jointly coordinated with the Inter-University Program for Latino Research, saw the completion of studies by three Post Docs in American Art and the selection of four new scholars in American History; three fellows at the senior level and one at the junior level.
The Center co-sponsored the fourth summer workshop with the Inter-University Program for Latino Research, entitled: "Latino Cultural Research in a National Museum Context." Fifteen persons participated in this two-week program, including museum professionals and graduate students from universities around the country (UC Santa Cruz, Harvard, Yale, University of Texas, UCLA, NYU, among others). Another collaborative project with the IUPLR included a one-day seminar for university students on the Cultural of Latinos at the Smithsonian. The Center also initiated a collection of reference materials for visiting scholars and opened offices for its Visiting Scholars.
The Center moved quickly to develop an online capability and website for research, education, and dialog. The aim is to make available and known the riches of Latino history and culture and advance communication, collaboration, and network building among diverse communities. Under the leadership of Magdalena Mieri, the Center opened its Virtual Gallery in El Paso Texas with the Manuel Carrillo cinematic exhibition on his photography. The exhibit was developed by Melissa Carrillo. Another Virtual Gallery exhibit was started on Antonio: the illustrations of Antonio Lopez and his collaborations with Juan Ramos, 1960-1987. Funding was acquired in collaboration with Hispanic Designers, Inc, from Pamola Picasso.
The Center is working with the Cesar Chavez Foundation in La Paz, Keene, California, to catalog, preserve and document the Cesar Chavez collection of memorabilia, photographs, correspondence and related items of Civil Rights Leader and Farmworker Organizer, Cesar Chavez, who died in April 1993.
Research Resources for Fellows and Interns
* Study Room collection on Latino Arts and Culture: books, periodicals and vertical files (our center and SIL)
* Latino Artist Database (our center)
* Latino Collections at the Smithsonian Database (Link of center with SIRIS-Smithsonian Institution Research Information Service- group)
* Publications: proceedings from both planned conferences and exhibition catalogs
Initiatives for Center Sponsored Exhibitions
Ritmos de Identidad is a fully planned, developed, and funded exhibit of the Center. It will serve as a model for more detailed, engaging exhibits for the future. Curated by Miguel Bretos, it involved every member of the Center and collaborators from museums and research centers of the Smithsonian.
The Center joined SITES as a co-sponsor of the widely acclaimed exhibit:
"Americanos: Latino Life in the U.S." A Time-Warner project, Americanos has four parts: the photo exhibit, a book with almost 200 photographs, a CD with Latino music, and a documentary film.
As a SITES exhibition, Americanos will be traveling throughout the United States till 2002. In addition, the Center for Latino Initiatives developed, in conjunction with Time-Warner, a visitor's brochure to accompany the exhibition and a papershow -- a portable reproduction of some of the photographs and parts of the visitor's brochure -- to be used in classrooms as a teacher's aide.
The Center co-sponsored with the Smithsonian Center for Materials Research and Education the exhibition: Santos: Substance and Soul, which has an opening on September 7,2000 in the Arts & Industries Building and is scheduled for travel to the Hispanic Cultural Center in Albuquerque and later the Museum of Art in San Juan Puerto Rico.
The Center is also co-sponsoring with SITES a music centered traveling exhibit on "Corridos: A New Ballad Tradition." This exhibit is planned to open at the Smithsonian in January 2002 with a schedule of 10 additional venues across the United States. There is discussion of traveling this exhibit to Mexico and Spain, points of origin of Corridos music and cultural traditions.
"Huracan: From Pre-Columbian Beliefs in the Caribbean to Modern Scientific Discovery." Is another SITES/Center sponsored exhibition that is in the conceptualization stage of development.
Through grants of the Latino Initiatives Fund, additional exhibitions are being co-sponsored by the Center with the Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage (with Olivia Cadaval and Cynthia Vidaurri) on the Rio Bravo/Rio Grande and the National Museum of the American Indian (with Alicia Gonzalez) on "Mixtec Images and Culture in Mexico and California: a photo
exhibit".
Also ready for the road is a new exhibition on Arte Latino, co-sponsored with the National Museum of American Art, including over 70 works of art by Latino artists. All the art in this exhibit is part of the Smithsonian collection.
<<<<
The Smithsonian Board for Latino Initiatives
January 1, 2000
Prepared by Refugio I. Rochin for Submission to the Regents of the Smithsonian Institution.
In 1999, Refugio I. Rochin prepared the following proposal and articles for the establishment of a Smithsonian National Board for Latino Initiatives.
This Board was approved by the Regents. It was the second time that the Regents established a "Smithsonian National Board."
The first Board was established long before at The National Board.
From that time on-ward, the regents authorized Boards for Museums and Centers but not with the designation of National Board.
Another unique feature about the National Board for Latino Initiatives is that it is for both the Secretary and the Director of the Center. Other Boards are for the Directors of Museums and Centers -- exclusive of the Secretary.
Refugio I. Rochin note to the record:
In January 1999, the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Institution met in Washington DC and established the Smithsonian National Board for Latino Initiatives. A year later the Board of Regents appointed Lawrence Small the 11th Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution. With the change in administration, the Organizing Principles of the Smithsonian National Board for Latino Initiatives were revised to reflect the addition of the Under Secretary for American Museums and National Programs and the elimination of the Provost position of the previous Secretary. The following information is the revised version of the Bylaws for the Smithsonian National Board for Latino Initiatives, in effect since May 7, 2001.
From the Minutes of the Board of Regents:
ESTABLISHMENT OF THE NATIONAL BOARD FOR LATINO INITIATIVES OF THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION
At the Secretary's suggestion and with the Regent's endorsement of the Smithsonian Center for Latino Initiatives, the following Organizing Principles are offered as the basis for the Regents' establishment of an advisory Board known as the National Board for Latino Initiatives of the Smithsonian Institution.
The Smithsonian's current administration wishes to form an effective Advisory body devoted to the advancement of Latino initiatives throughout the Institution. The advisory board would not only have an important role to play in advocacy and fund raising, but also in providing expertise and counsel to the Smithsonian Center for Latino Initiatives, the directors of museums and research centers and in assisting the Secretary and Under Secretary of American Museums and National Programs (formerly Provost) in the selection and evaluation of the directors and their programs affecting Latino initiatives.
The Board's involvement in fund raising would be conducted in accordance with Smithsonian rules and current Institution-wide campaign to enhance the Smithsonian Endowment.
The conceptualization of this new board has been enhanced by the Commission on the Future of the Smithsonian Institution and the recent Regent's Guidelines on Smithsonian Advisory Boards, and the report of the Latino Task Force: "Toward a Shared Vision: U.S. Latino and the Smithsonian Institution." It is anticipated that, with charter members and officially sanctioned organizing principles, the Secretary will be able to develop further bylaws for the Regents' consideration at a subsequent meeting. It is understood that the existing Smithsonian boards are of indefinite duration. Unless established by statute or binding agreement, the proposed board may be disbanded should the board of choose to do so.
The following motion is suggested:
The Board of Regents approves the proposed statement of Organizing Principles and authorizes the establishment of the National Board for Latino Initiatives of the Smithsonian Institution.
ORGANIZING PRINCIPLES
Revised Version May 7, 2001
Revisions in Italics
Purpose.
The Smithsonian National Board for Latino Initiatives has been established:
1. To provide advice, support and expertise to the Secretary, to the Under Secretary for American Museums and National Programs, to the Smithsonian Board of Regents, the Director of the Smithsonian Center for Latino Initiatives(herein referred as "Center",)and the Smithsonian Institutions as a whole;
2. To help build the financial base for Latino Initiatives and the Center by identifying and securing private funds; and,
3. To advocate for the Center's purposes and programs to the nation and to Broaden constituencies in furtherance of the Center's mission.
Membership.
Membership on the board is by invitation and will not exceed more than twenty-five members. Members are sought nationwide among patrons of the disciplines of the Center and of the Smithsonian.
Nominations to the Board are submitted to the Smithsonian Board of Regents for approval, which shall also appoint one Regent as ex-officio member. One member of the Smithsonian National Board will be appointed by the Secretary as ex-officio member. The term of membership is three years, renewable at the discretion of the Board and the Center, to one additional three-year term, not to exceed six consecutive years.
There shall be a staggered system of appointments so that the terms are approximately one-third of the members will expire each year.
Meetings.
Meetings will take place twice a year and will be attended by the membership and the Center's Director, no proxies or substitutes are allowed. Not less than fourteen days prior to each regular meeting, the Chair, in consultation with the Director, should prepare the agenda for the meeting and request that the Director distribute it to the members of the Board. Any action of the Board may be taken without a meeting if, prior to such action, notice of the proposed action is communicated by the Chair to all members of the Board, and as such as written consent is filed with the minutes of the proceeding of the Board.
Officers.
The officers of the Board shall be a Chair and other such officers as the Board may decide from time to time, who shall be nominated by an ad-hoc Nominating Committee (composed of three to five members of the Board). The presiding Officer of the Board is the chairperson who will be recommended annually in December, subject to approval of the Smithsonian Regents. The term of office of the Chairperson is one calendar year. The Chairperson is eligible for reappointment. The presiding Chair shall be assisted by the staff of the Smithsonian Center for Latino Initiative.
Member Responsibilities.
Each Board member is expected to be an active participant attending meetings, reviewing programs, offering opinions and advice. A member will be removed from the Board if he/she misses two consecutive meetings. Each should be willing as well to share expertise individually with the Director and Center staff.
Members will be expected to contribute to the Center's fund raising programs. Members normally will be responsible for personal expenses related to Board service such as travel, lodging, meals, and local transportation. Other appropriate non-museum sources may also be utilized.
Member Support.
In support of the leadership activities of the Board, interactions with the scholarly and program staff of the Center and other Smithsonian museums and programs will have access to the facilities of Center and Smithsonian for personal tours of the exhibits and behind-the-scenes operations. In addition, members may wish to organize other activities or events for the purpose of the Board's education as well as its advisory, advocacy and fund raising roles. These activities will be worked out each year in consultation with the Center's Director and staff.
Comentários